Word.ws English Dictionary

hobos

hobos is the plural of hobo.

hobos is the third-person singular simple present indicative of hobo.

Meaning of hobo

Noun

hobo (plural hobos or hoboes)

  1. (Canada, US) A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.
    • He’d heard the word hobo used for travelers, heard it was short for homeward bound, or homeless boy, or Hoboken having something to do with New Jersey.2024, Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars, Harvill Secker, page 55
  2. (Canada, US) Any migratory laborer, whether homeless or not.
  3. A kind of large handbag.
    • Avoid bulky styles such as duffle sacks, buckets, doctors' satchels, and hobos.1989, Susan Ludwig, Janice Steinberg, Petite Style, page 46

See all 4 meanings of hobo

Forms of hobos

alternative formhoboes

Phrases with hobos

Questions about hobos

What is hobos the plural of?
Hobos is the plural of hobo.

Words near hobos in the dictionary

  1. hoboish
  2. hoboism
  3. Hoboken
  4. Hobokenite
  5. hobolike
  6. hobos
  7. hobosexual
  8. hobosexuality
  9. hobosexuals
  10. hoboy
  11. hoboys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hobos (page history and authors); hobo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “hobos.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hobos. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.